With preparations for late Fall and early Winter underway we are well into planning for next year’s 2013 growing season. This is the time when we “plant the seeds” to ensure that the life-cycle of our Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program continues healthy, vibrant and abundant. Your financial commitment as a CSA member is a “seed” we count on in order to continue to plant our crops and operate our farm. Your participation is directly woven into the life of our land, its people, plants, animals, and soil. The Live Earth Farm CSA is a partnership with you, our members, and a journey through the growing seasons, where we commit to sharing both the risk and bounty inherent in growing your food.

Many have begun asking about when they can sign up for a Winter Share, and how to sign up for next spring. I am glad there is so much interest and I invite everyone to renew their CSA partnership with us. So here is an overview before we start the Signup on Friday, October 5th.

When you sign-up the first thing you’ll notice is that we have a new website. It is still a work in progress but should be easy to navigate.

Shares will be available in all three sizes (Large, Medium, Small) for both:

NEW! Full-Season subscription. Want to subscribe to both our Winter and Regular Seasons at the same time? Well, now you can do just that. Yay! Please note: these subscriptions are limited by the number of Winter subscriptions available, so subscribe early if you want to take advantage of this new “full season” offering.

Winter Season is always very popular, so be sure to subscribe early because we offer only half as many subscriptions for Winter as we do for our normal Regular Season. The Winter Shares are a wonderful way to stay connected to the growing cycles of the farm and to experience the rich, hardy, flavorful and very nutritious produce that is abundant during what is commonly the “off-season” for most farms. To ensure abundance and diversity in the shares we supplement with crops from other local organic farms if needed and will continue to include a bit of ‘Summer in a Jar’ from Happy Girl Kitchen Co., who has been busy putting up our tomatoes and other summer fruit and veggies to enjoy this winter. We’ll continue to offer our bread share from Companion Bakers, as well as a limited number of pasture-raised egg shares (we recommend you sign up early to get your egg share).

2013 Regular Season – Very important to the livelihood of the farm is your commitment for the 2013 Regular season. It is your financial commitment to 2013 during the slower winter months which is critical to helping us maintain a sustainable level of income for our workers, and also helps cover the costs of essential and early season purchases.

To make this financial commitment for 2013 easier for all our members, we again offer what we hope are helpful price saving and payment options:

Early Registration discount of 2% off your entire subscription (Regular and Full-season only). This discount is only available until January 31st, so if you know you want to be subscribed to the 2013 Regular Season, we highly encourage you to take advantage of it now!

PAYMENT OPTIONS AND DISCOUNTS (Regular and Full-season only)

Payment-in-full for your subscription is a major commitment to the Farm, and we honor this by offering a 2% discount off your entire subscription for choosing this payment option. (In the past the discount applied only to the the shares but now it includes the additional options, i.e. bread, fruit, and eggs as well.) This discount is separate from the Early Registration discount, so pay in full before January 31st and take advantage of a combined 4% discount!

Return of the Two-Payment Plan! – Unable to make payment-in-full yet still want to demonstrate your extra commitment to the Farm and receive a 1% discount off your subscription, too? Choose the Two-Payment Plan and make the first of two equal payments upon placement of your subscription, and have the second one automatically scheduled for April 1st, 2013. Register before January 31st to also take advantage of the Early Registration discount to get a combined 3% off.

Installment Payment Plan – Equal payments over the months from when you sign up to the end of the season. By spreading the total cost over many months, each payment will be less, and very regular, so you can manage your monthly expenditures a lot easier. You will still get the 2% discount if you sign up early.

Please note: if you are subscribing only for the Winter Season, since there are only 10 deliveries, there are no discounts and we ask that you make payment-in-full.

Ongoing Weekend Strawberry U-Pick: Saturdays & Sundays until it rains 10:00am – 3:00pm This is an ongoing weekend event through the month of October or until it rains. We have tables available where you can enjoy a packed picnic lunch, and enjoy a walk on the farm after! U-Pick strawberries for $2 a pound Farm Stand[...]